Orifice-plate for flow-meters.



E. G. BAILEY. ORIHCE PLATE FOR FLOW METERS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR-16,1916.

Patented Nam 27, 19171 inventor- Er'vz'n CZBailey Qwt 1;". o WW .lttt ltil lc t ithht li in I. on KEV/TUE HIGHFILANDS, ntnssncttusne'tre, ci-ttton To In i CQMPAN'E, A CUEFJPUZ'RJATIUN 013 MASSACHUE QRIFIIQZE PLATE F8 LOW-METEFJS.

Epccifieetion et 1 Application filed '0 alt whom may concern:

Be 1t known that l .tfiRVII-T G close to the orifice Rhianna ence rapidly decreases fr I cit zen of the United Stet-co, residing 1' have found that h lc'wton Highhtnde in the county of Middlescrihed objections t sex and tate of Massachusetts hove inrentuse of an orifice of d on rnprovement in UrificeJPletes tor egress area is "Flow-lt r eters, of which the following do pressure/ loss,

scription, in connection with the accent ever, being an unequal di panyt g dre'i'vinge, is specification, e fi ntclf f the inpe. letters on the drawings representing l Pr ure or low Patented new;

and the pressure olifierom. that point oth of the above docan be obviated Toy thenovel form in which the su'fl'icient to obviate excessive the edges of the orific to e, howstancee from the in this case the lown-streain connection 1 D21 tapped from the side of the main pipe Where f he me the edge of the orifice is at the greatest dietance therefrom, the result being that the pressure curve is similar to that obtained DUE-W with a concentric orifice of much smelter A B fl f fl 1 b Th capacity, My invention is embodied in on ye l t bd th p se t orifice plate having these charm? stice n in, the necul shape and reland tor the purpose of illustretin e ini f th ifie fi in ith vention and clearly explaining; t1 n 5 i i hi h it i l d in results tu een the plate cniooo purposg f causing a more, my the pinto hating tnecon 7e press-Mtg iiffe encg th centric o ehown in .e o cn as the obstruction, a n e the 01d m entric orifice of the usual type 4 -E an obstruction in measuring 5311539051113 @li mil" ill-7911 M o l tlllf do not show ti a device en 5 comparison and en represent an. orifi all sides, Under tt cient of discharge 1 dependable, hut such or on this lute ices only some tin ced.

tion hut are tor the pl emotion only cc of the only st of my knowledge has been used in flow meters principle, Vie: en orifice the pipe in which it is.

factorv tor comperetiv low 't-eloeities of 1 i5 lmlgitmlillal secfifm 11 P p fl jneggu ing BL fl i th t duct having; on orifice plate not known pipes 1 Very h d -Mm th t x etructioin show ng a pressure connection v now prevalent howevelt5 it is m 53 1 tn the upstream 81GB? and it number or pres; use an oritice hating" on area that is one. ll cure Conneclgtout c t the dowustrceni title or:

in comparison With the tree of he pi e P 3 1S 351 01 i118 since the obstruction would he so great 1 11% l e fl 1' we; 1* 0 1s a curve plotted ttt result in an excessive pressure lose. t has to show pressure difterences as measured been found, moreover, that the coeflicient of between the unetreztm and the several dou'ndischarge varies Widely when Pfilfl" stream connect ons t "the pipe nt one into cit tively large circular orifice, and especially fie 1 1d 'Ough; .t] t, o, {lllfl when nressure connection are not dis- .WTS co ding to lFigS. und too pipe or fittings. n t i. ion moreover, h shown c orifice and it given tistnnce I out the ori lice plate einhoo t'ii closely 'Venturi tube as shown relatively large area.

a part of the meter itself,

part of a flow meter wherein the pressure diflerence'caused by fluid flowing past such obstruction is utilized as the basis of meas urement. It is the sole purpose of such obstruction or orifice plate to give aknown and dependable pressure difference for each rate of flow. 4

It is to be understood that the plurality or group of pressure connections shown in the downstream pipe in Figs. 1 and 4 is not but is shown in conjunction with'the plotted curves, Figs. 3 and 6, as a convenient way of explaining the urpose of the invention, which will be fully described hereinafter.

As is well known in hydraulics, when a fluid flows through a sharp edged orifice, the stream contracts area beyond the face of the orifice than the area of the orifice itself, and then the stream gradually expands. In other words, it follows the curves of the well known by the broken lines,

Fig. 1, although th are no confining Walls present.

'In Fig. 1, the orificedisk 1 is shown as clamped between the flanges 2 and 3 of the upstream or high premure pipe 2 and the downstream or low pressure'pipe 3. The orifice isconcentric with the pipes and has a In order to illustrate a the effect of the orifice on the pressure of I contraction in curve shows the which expedients would be the flowing fluid, I have shown the pipe 3 as provided with a plurality of pressure connecting ipes b, 0 (2, etc. arranged at different istances from the orifice, and in Fig. 3, I have plotted a curve showing differences in premure between 'the connection a, in the pi e 2 and the connections I), c, d, etc. in the plpe respectively.

'It will be seen that the greatestv pressure difference is. obtained from measurements between the connection a and a connection placed between b and a, which is a short distance from the orifice plate on its down.- stream side,

the fluid stream. For accuracy in meter measurementit is desirable to usethe maximum pressure difference; hence it is necessary,to locate the down stream pressure connection at the point where the But such a location of the downstream connection in this case would require that the flange be drilled or grooved out near its side, or else that a'special flange objectionable, if

notimpossible. Furthermore, it is noted from Fig. 3, that the curve 4 is very steep onboth sides of the maximum 4 so that a very slight error or miscalculation in placing the downstream connection at the proper distancefrom the orifice plate would lead to serious error.

I have foundthat all of these diificultics y to a considerably smaller and corresponds to the greatest illustrated in Fig. A,

the obstruction being adjacent to the side eatest pressure difference.

be used, any of" sure. The orifice,

can be overcome by using an orifice of some shape other than a round hole concentric with the pipe, if the shape is such that the distance between the edge of the orifice and the wall of the pipe through which the pressure is. taken is equivalent to the-distance the orifice is provided with sufficient area to permit the desired rate of flow without excessive pressure loss while the. obstructing edge of the orifice plate which is on a. radial line with the downstream pressure con nection, projects far enough in from the circumference of the pipe to produce the same useful effect, as if the area of the orifice'were small in relation to the area of the pipe.

Referring to Figs, 4 and 6, which show respectively experimental pressure connections (1 b 0 03 etc., and a plotted curve 6, corresponding respectively to those shown in Figs. -1 and 3 it will be seen that the point of greatest pressure diflerence in this case (shown at 7 from the orifice plate so that the downstream pressure connection will be clear of the flange. The moregradual rise and fa l of the curve also indicates that substantially the same pressure extends over a greater area, so that nearly the same pressure difference will be indicated even if the pressure connection is not located exactly as desired. It is readily seen, therefore, that from a practical standpoint the construction embodying the present invention is much more desirable and mbre conducive to accuracy than the construction embodying the orifice plate shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

the widest part of the obstruction properly proportioned for the conditions requlred. It is not essential, therefore, that the orifice should be segment shaped, as shown in Figs. 4, 5, and 7, but any shape can'be employed in which the greatest distance from the wall of the pipe is suflicient to obtain the desired on the curvefi) is farther away result, while the entire area ofthe orifice is large enough to avold excessive loss of presfor example, may be circular, but eccentric with the pipe as shown naaaoee in Fig. 8, or elongated as shown in Fig. 9,

, prof any other shape different from that of feature of the invention, 1 have shown the outer part of the plate corrugated so that it forms an integral gasket or packing, while the plate lies between thefianges, thereby obviating the use of separate rubber or soft sheet packing that would necessarily be used on both sides of the plate if the integral packing were not employed.

at I claim is:

1. An orifice plate for obstructing the flow of fluid through a duct for the purpose of creating a drop in pressure, which comprises a disk substantially circular in circumference the saiddisk having an orifice, the edge of which orifice comprises a portion substantially concentric with the Wall of the duct, and a straight portion, the portion of the plate between said straight portion of the orifice edge and the wall of the duct affording the main obstruction to the flow through the duct.

2. An orifice plate for obstructing without preventing the flow of fluid through a ductffor the purpose of creating a drop in pressure, which comprises a disk substantially circular in circumference, the said disk having an orifice, the boundary of which is at a greater distance from the edge of the plate at one point than at another, and circumferentially located corrugations in the surface of the plate between the edge of the plate and the boundary of the orifice.

3. A pipe line having flanges at the meeting ends of pipe sections and an orifice plate secured between said flanges, said pipe line being provided with suitable pressure connections on the upstream and downstream sides of said orifice plate; the edge of the orifice nearest to the down stream pressure connection being at a greater distance from the side of'the pipe than the other portions of the edge of the orifice are from the side of the pipe.

4. The herein described means for obstructing the How of fluid through a pipe for the purpose of producing a measurable difi'erence between the pressure of the nonobstructed fluid and the pressure of the obstructed fluid, which consists of a transverse plate located in the pipe, the greatest obstructing portion of the plate being adjacent to the side of the pipe from which the pressure connections are taken.

In testimony whereof, I 'have signed my name to this specification.

ERVIN Gr. BAILEY. 

